Once we decided we were interested in living in Rincon we stopped at a real estate office called Island West Properties, located on the 413, "the Road to Happiness", the small looping road that connects Rincon's surfing beaches and hillside neighborhoods to the 115, the main highway into and out of Rincon. They had some property listings on their walls, mostly condos and houses in the $200k to $300k price range, a little out of our budget. We were looking for a condo or house for about $100k or possibly land for that price which we could build on at a later date.
We spoke to a realtor, who pointed out a few pieces of land at that price, a tear down house and another house that was a little more than we could afford. We got the directions and drove out. The first few places we looked at were in an area called the Pueblo, which is off the 115, close to the main town plaza and the public beaches and is mostly flat. We liked the proximity to the beaches, but we noticed it was considerably warmer down here, away from the hills, and also the beaches in the southern part of Rincon don't have the great surfing that is found around the point to the north.
We had 2 more properties to look at on our list, both were in Puntas, the northern part of Rincon which is looped by the 413 and contains all the great surfing beaches. Our first stop was a piece of land on the side of a hill with beautiful views, the asking price was $110k. Very nice location, but the property was a sloped piece of hilltop and would require alot of grading and money before we could do anything else. The other property was a run down as-is house with the price cut from $178k to $139k. We knew it was more than we could afford and would need more work and money, but what potential!
The house was built into a hillside, made from concrete with a large concrete driveway and a small veranda overlooking a valley dense with jungle, palms and mango trees. In the distance, the next town of Aguada and further, the town of Aguadilla could be seen, along with a small portion of the sea. All around the house was overgrown and peeking in through the windows all we could see was headaches and the dollar bills we would need to spend to make it livable.
That night, while sipping Mojitos at the Rum Shack, the bar at the Lazy Parrot, we talked about what we saw and our options. Maybe we could buy the land and put a trailer on it, use it for vacation. The tear down house in the Pueblo would be perfect for that. But the views from Puntas and the beaches made our decision for us; we would focus our search on that area. The next day we made plans for our realtor Greg to show us the run down house on the hill and we would drive the hillside streets to see if there were other properties for sale.
We spoke to a realtor, who pointed out a few pieces of land at that price, a tear down house and another house that was a little more than we could afford. We got the directions and drove out. The first few places we looked at were in an area called the Pueblo, which is off the 115, close to the main town plaza and the public beaches and is mostly flat. We liked the proximity to the beaches, but we noticed it was considerably warmer down here, away from the hills, and also the beaches in the southern part of Rincon don't have the great surfing that is found around the point to the north.
We had 2 more properties to look at on our list, both were in Puntas, the northern part of Rincon which is looped by the 413 and contains all the great surfing beaches. Our first stop was a piece of land on the side of a hill with beautiful views, the asking price was $110k. Very nice location, but the property was a sloped piece of hilltop and would require alot of grading and money before we could do anything else. The other property was a run down as-is house with the price cut from $178k to $139k. We knew it was more than we could afford and would need more work and money, but what potential!
The house was built into a hillside, made from concrete with a large concrete driveway and a small veranda overlooking a valley dense with jungle, palms and mango trees. In the distance, the next town of Aguada and further, the town of Aguadilla could be seen, along with a small portion of the sea. All around the house was overgrown and peeking in through the windows all we could see was headaches and the dollar bills we would need to spend to make it livable.
That night, while sipping Mojitos at the Rum Shack, the bar at the Lazy Parrot, we talked about what we saw and our options. Maybe we could buy the land and put a trailer on it, use it for vacation. The tear down house in the Pueblo would be perfect for that. But the views from Puntas and the beaches made our decision for us; we would focus our search on that area. The next day we made plans for our realtor Greg to show us the run down house on the hill and we would drive the hillside streets to see if there were other properties for sale.
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WOW, I just read your blog and give you HUGE kudo's for moving to Rincon. We actually looked at your house a year before. I would love to see it now. We looked for a house about a year before you did and bought a house on Bummer Hill in June of 2008. We would love to live there (maybe not full time) but at least during the winter.
ReplyDeleteWe're heading down tomorrow, so look for a blue element with surf racks (we shipped our car too), if your heading down Bummer Hill we are about 5 houses down the hill (after the little zigzag) on the left.
or check us out on http://surfmama.smugmug.com/
Linda & Bob Duerr